hello. welcome to "worldwide exchange." i'm kelly evans. these are your headlines from around the world. if you are just looking at the show, verizon, not on the horizon shall we say with speculation continuing over that company's future. let's look at what other stories we're watching for you this morning. we're watching the tepid market debut in milan. we will speak first to the ceo in the next ten minutes. also china trying to dial town ten

tensions on the korean peninsula. and china's services sector picks up steam in march and a show of strength for the country's growing domestic economy. it's a mixed start to the training session in europe. we have split decliners and advancers. more in the red this morning. now, tomorrow we have a couple major events going on in europe. we have the european central bank. we have the bank of england and bank of japan starting its two-day meeting today. as we wait for markets they are searching for direction. let's look at major european here. ftse has been telling to watch. it started down by 0.2 of 1% but it has taken more stocks across europe into red. down 0.8 of 1%.

ftse 100 down. it was a tone and markets even though we had seen underperformance in the u.s. today we are seeing more red across europe. moving on, let's look at bond markets as well. today spain is catching a bid. interesting move and surprising to see just how far this yield has fallen in the last few sessions back below 5% to 4.92. italy flipping into the green falling despite the fact we have no government formed in italy. we'll look at a major move in the italian market today in terms of that moleskin ipo. the yen weakening a little bit. 93.5 is that mark there. the australia dollar a strong

session yesterday. euro/dollar a little bit weaker. japan has been the story. are we seeing a different trend taking place? is the bank of japan not delivering enough potentially when it comes to where market expectations have gotten? lieasisa joins us now. >> japanese stocks outshined other asian peers today with the nikkei jumping 3%. automakers drove higher today after positive u.s. auto sales numbers. index heavy weight fast retailing a big reason behind the nikkei surge. the stock soared 14% after the clothing chain registered a 3% jump in march same-store sales.

in china the official and hsbe readings suggested a robust growth in china's service sector but the economic outlook remains cloudy while beijing reform measures lack clarity and the monitor policy is being tightened. on the stock market, shanghai composite eased ahead of a two-day holiday starting tomorrow while shenzhen rebounded. so far 7% affected with the bird flu virus and two deaths reported. weakness on bank wait on the hang seng. elsewhere with escalating tensions with the north, south korea's kospi lost ground with ship builders sinking deeply

under water. in australia, lower by 0.6 of a percent and sensex trading down. >> now on specific news we're following this morning. moleskin debuted on italy's stock market today. shares are trading near the ipo price of 2.30 per share. the latest quote shows that we're up by about a tenth of 1%. joining us now on the phone from milan first on cnbc is the ceo of moleskin. thank you, sir, for calling in this morning on what's got to be a busy morning for you. how do you pronounce the company's name? >> hello to everyone. there are several ways to pronounce moleskin. there's the english way or the french way but there are many

other ways and we're find with any of them. >> that does reflect your attitude with the company, doesn't it? it's supposed to be something for everyone here. >> absolutely. moleskin is an inclusive brand based on a set of cultural values with expressing and it's inclusive and not exclusive. >> you are still selling notebooks in this digital age. interesting to see the success that you've had and what do you think it is? is it in spite of what's happening with the digital revolution or partly because of that because people need and want that physical paper? >> it's a combination of both. we are seeing definitely with the growth of the digital economy people need more and more to be assured of the fact that you are still human beings

and foreign objects that offer specific meaning and moleskin is one of them that speaks a story of being connected with great artists from the past and people are more and more interested with objects with this value added. >> you're about a 15-year-old company at this point. owned by private equity for the last six or seven years. when it comes to your market, yes, you still do most of your sales in europe but why go public in italy in particular with the political uncertainty we're seeing right now and what a tough economic market it's been. >> moleskin is really a global business at this point. italy is only 10% of our sales. europe is the majority of our market but the u.s. and america in general is up 11%. as a global business that has

experienced very strong growth in the last three or four years and has significant opportunity for growth we thought and the evidence of the iipo confirms there is an interest in these growth stories with a global connotation. >> we have seen other italian companies in the past 12 months or so doing really well actu actually. so there is an argument you can make for listing on the italian stock exchange and doing well despite this. if you look at shares now up 0.9 of 1% in early trade, do you wish maybe you had gone with a smaller flow? >> no. we decided to go with this kind of flow because we thought it was important to give market liquidity and also just the

beginning of our journey in the stock exchange so in the next days, weeks and months will tell us more about it. >> what about the next days, weeks and months for italy. what's your view of the political situation and what do you think needs to happen with regards to forming a government here in order to ensure investors for example about your company's long-term future? >> as far as our company particularly, that's a guarantee from investors that as i said we're not dependent on the italian market really. we are an italian company. from this point of view it's ensuring that businesses that depend so strongly on the ability to nurture and create dimension of a brand certainly brands that can thrive and the examples that you mentioned and

the like are clear examples of that. i think that's the best insurance that we can provide our investors about our future. >> are you confident that italy generally speaking is still open for business in spite of the political headlines and turmoil that we've seen? >> look, italy has a long, long story of being able to find a way out of some very complicated situations. we're a country with thousands of years of history and many, many times in our history we have come very close to situations where from the standpoint of our other nations would have been impossible to estimate and we'll do it again. >> what do you think your company will look like in a couple years time when it comes to as you say shifting your focus in terms of the kind of

products you're offering and where you're selling them? >> well, we have started a process of diversifying into new product categories, providing accessories and leading accessories and as well as process to diversifying by open direct to consumer channels. e-commerce and direct to stores so certainly over the next years we do expect that alongside with the goals that we'll continue to see happening in our core paper categories and traditional channels we'll also see the new channels, e-commerce and other categories increase the weight of our business. >> we'll leave it there. thank you for calling it.

moleskin shares about 1.2% on debut trading in milan. i want to also show you the trading price of two other major companies which have gone public on the italian market in the last year, year and a half or so and have seen performance do quite well. and it's interesting to compare that again with the company that hasn't done so well. also, speaking of what's happening for the next hour, alan is here. any comments on moleskin? do you see the market performance as telling. >> the key question of the

moment is if you're a company that even if revenues are coming outside of italy, what's the impact over time as the italian economy degrades and demand for additional taxation comes out. i think it's interesting what he didn't say. >> what do you think is the outlook for italy here when it comes to investing strategy? what trades do you recommend? how do you see the performance evolving over the next 36 months? >> the key to italy probably lies in spain. in my view spain is closer and if spain gets into a difficult situation than certainly italy well. italy has limited visibility. we have limited idea what the political outlook holds and therefore we remain in wait and see mode. the outcome at least in my view is not foregone. spain is a difficult question because spain fiscal outlook is degrading rapidly. >> what explains the market activity today? is this a fair market? we see sovereign debt in spain

rallying today. what's going on? >> i think if you're a fundamental analyst you are probably very confused right now. however, i think what we're seeing now is primarily technical in that the markets are testing some important technicals. the trend line supports dates back to june 2012. i think we didn't really want to get through that and that factor combines with the fact the u.s. equity market is testing that level is driving markets higher. i think it's fundamental and i think volumes are quite low as approximate it is post-easter. >> we have had people asking about fundamentals in terms of great rotation. are we seeing major flows from bonds to equities. you say that it's the opposite happening. investors are moving from equities into corporate bonds driven by the relatively weak performance of the equity market. explain that. >> i think what you see at the moment is those investors who are pension funds particularly

defined benefit pension funds and insurance companies, why would they buy equity now? solvency ratios are low. they are below target. in the u.k. they are well below target. my sense is they want to derisk. if you look back over the last few years, you'll see almost constant investment in corporate bonds and regular investment in equities. my sense for the most is institutional investors are going the other way. >> we are showing insurance companies and you can see that flows into corporate bonds and not into equities. on the pension side that gap is narrowing. even though we have seen major flows into corporate bonds, is that not starting to slow? are we not seeing some relief when it comes to kind of the exit from equities there but is that starting to change? >> the u.k. does include a large chunk of defining contribution schemes. it's possible that total return

investors are weighing government bonds versus equities and they start to make the switch. however, that is volatile on a quarterly basis and the trend is clear. also, those solvency ratios don't change that quickly. >> if there's a theme so far emerging this week it's what pension fund demand is doing to these markets. if you think there's great o rotation in equities, think again. we'll have more coming up on the program. we'll have the latest developments from south korea as tensions escalate with the north. all this after pyongyang has shut access to a joint industrial complex. and as the new bank of japan leader holds the first meeting, we'll have the latest from tokyo. and we'll be joined for an exclusive interview from hong kong and weighing in on u.k. regulation.

tensions between north and south korea show no sign of abating after pyongyang blocked workers from entering a shared zone earlier this morning. the complex generates $2 billion of trade for the north and houses 123 company and employees citizens from both side of the order. for more, we're joined live from seoul. this sounds like an escalation. >> yeah. pyongyang is escalating tension industrial complex widely referred to as barometer to gauge the level of tensions in the peninsula and we have a warning by north korea on saturday that they could suspend south korean workers from the industrial complex and at one point this morning we thought they could take the 860,000 korean workers as hostage and

defense minister here made it clear that south korean military is fully prepared and could destroy 70% of north korea's front line units within five days but you have to wonder why is kim jong-un doing this when he stressed economic prosperity as a top agenda along with nuclear power. it could be saving face. and that's not the reality in this case because the complex basically fed them $2 billion in trade so far and a total of $80 million in wages paid directly to north korean government so this is a good source of cash for the nation that's economy is in shambles and is boxed out by tougher sanctions all around the world. we're getting a very confusing message from pyongyang and if it's bargaining power that kim jong-un is buying here i'm not sure if mr. kim is making the right move. back to you.

>> thank you for that. we should mention the kospi down today. a relatively muted reaction nevertheless. pmi data is out today. which country's numbers hit a 17-month low? stay tuned to find out. in half an hour's time we'll speak to the former fda chairman. you don't want to miss it. we'll be right back.

welcome back to the program. chi china's service center continues to expand. hitting a six-month high in march indicating a broad based recovery gaining traction and echos the read on the sector out. it's a different story in india where the pmi reading sunk to a 17-month low in march. it's still in expansion territory but new businesses are taking a hit in italy. the service sector is critical. it makes up 60% of india's output. for more, chief economist at hsbc. so which of these data points is more important to you in terms of what we're learning today?

is it china's reinforced services sector or weakness out of india? >> i think it's two somewhat different stories we're seeing here. there have been divergence in chi china's case. fiscal spending, infrastructure related products supporting growth in the economy including both in the manufacturing sector when it comes to investments more generally speaking. i think also when it comes to domestic demand in china, it's holding up quite well. consumers are quite confident at this juncture and that's reporting growth in the services sector and manufacturing sector more generally speaking. in a sense it's policy engineered recovery and growth that's taking place in china that's slowly under way and is continuing as we see it. in india's case what we have i would characterize more as stabilization of conditions there. things have improved since september of last year when the government began to implement

structural reforms that had positive impact on sentiment. growth is not really taking off at this juncture. we have to have more traction on investments and that continuing before businesses will invest more and spend more effectively. >> which is the more important data for you, the chinese or indian data? sitting here in europe for the european environment, which is the more important for us? is it going to be the stronger growth in china or the environment in india? >> china is more important in that sense from a global economic perspective. the chinese data is what you need to watch out more for. it's the second biggest economy in the world. it has brought implications for growth in the rest of the region including where i'm sitting for example. it has implications for export

growth out of europe. for me from a global perspective is the one i would watch out more for and progress we have seen is quite encouraging. the recovery we see in china is somewhat broad based. we saw that a few days ago in terms of pmi that improved over february. >> at the same time the theme about how emerging markets are disappointing again continues to emerge. i wonder if we don't have to separate china from the rest of the story from emerging markets which india is a great example of this morning. what would the acronym be? why is china holding in well but emerging markets elsewhere are disappointing? >> i think in china's case it has to do with the case that they had policy room to ease monetary policy and did so aggressively last year. they also have fiscal space to roll out a number of projects in the sense ease fiscal policy

more generally speaking so that allows them to build up domestic resilience. in india's case it's a different story. india does not have fiscal space nor the space in terms of aggressive monetary policy easing to support growth so that constrains how much they can do. emerging markets are held back by structural constraints like brazil impacted by the global headwinds that you have in europe and u.s. that plays more of a role. china's domestic growth is holding up the flag. >> if they pull capital out of current markets, they will run into more trouble. thank you. a couple stories to bring you up to speed with this morning. s.e.c. says companies can now use facebook and twitter to announce news to investors. this long awaited decision on how they can communicate in the digital age comes with one important condition.

they must tell investors ahead of time which sites they're going to use. brings us today's viewer exchange question. do you feel comfortable with use of social media for corporate announcements? if you want to join the conversation, e-mail us at worldwide@cnbc.com or send in questions for alan capper with us for the rest of the hour. we'll take a quick break. head over to cnbc to see more. our guest blog, a short-term solution and full interview is at cnbc.com. healthy now have nowhere to hide. and straight ahead, it's a tepid market debut for notebook maker moleskin and we'll discuss why they couldn't emulate the ipos of other luxury brands.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." here are your headlines. european stocks trading lower as investors await tomorrow's monetary policy decisions in europe and japan. verizon denies speculation

of a deal with a telecon giant and shares of moleskin hovering around the 2.30 euro issue price. we spoke first with the ceo.yie tensions on the peninsula. just to give you an update on what we're learning from bank of england about latest lending conditions. it looks as though spreads for small companies tightened in the first quarter. medium and large companies tightened in the first quarter. lenders see a significant rise in demand for loans from small and large companies in the second quarter. a good sign if it does bear

fruit. significant tightening in mortgage spreads is expected. a rise in demand for mortgages also expected perhaps no surprise after the program, hope for homes, that the government announced the other day. it was in the budget when it comes to trying to boost -- hope for homes. i'll look it up. alan capper is here on set. it sounds like they see a pickup in demand if not availability of credit in the second quarter. >> it's interesting. the u.k. data has been very mixed. we had a business barometer yesterday. that was positive. some of the recent data elsewhere is positive. pmis nothing special. this is tipping the balance i would say toward more positive news and i guess that's good to see. >> we can see the sterling/dollar down a tenth of 1% is strengthening and back above the 1.50 mark. a quick check of what we're seeing. ftse in italy is underperformer.

it was down in the range of about 0.9 of 1% earlier. now it looks to be down about half percent. trimming losses to some extent. on that we are watching moleskin. company shares up 0.8 of 1% after debuting on the italian market today. it's been a muted start to trade as they are slightly above the issue price. i asked the company's ceo why he took the company public in italy at a time of such major mill uncertainty. >> italy is only 10% of our sales and europe is the majority of our market but the u.s. and america in general is up more than 35% and asia up 11%. as a global business that has experienced very strong growth in the last three or four years and has significant opportunity for growth. >> senior editor of upstart

digital companies. zach, what did you learn about moleskin and are you surprised by the muted response here? >> i don't know. this is the first ipo in the milan stock exchange of the year. back in 2011 prodda snubbed its hometown if favor of hong kong listing. a muted ipo like this priced in the middle of its range is to be expected. >> the question for moleskin specifically after seeing years of 20% revenue growth, it is starting to see the numbers slow. not surprising obviously as it gets bigger. it's also diversifying getting away from just making these little notebooks into doing more digital products, more branded products, but how might this

affect margins and attractiveness of business and reaching into other markets as it goes forward. >> 93% of the company's revenue comes from paper products and the big challenge is whether they can grow that 7%. obviously moleskin is very well known for its iconic notebook and that's where it sees the greatest margins. the strongest case for this stock is the margins on moleskin products are unheard of. 40% and higher compared to other luxury brands that moleskin likes to compare itself to say a 20% margin or prodda at 30%. there is that. paper business is its best business even though moleskin would like to get into digital. if you are betting on the stock, you have to bet on paper. >> if they do try to make a further move into digital, the

key question in my mind would be that the life cycle of a digital product is much, much shorter. ultimately the toy to which you're going to attach that nice case probably lasts two years and then a design fundamentally changes and you have to reengineer the casing. is that going to have a serious impact on them because ultimately the business model will be very, very different. >> absolutely. so far moleskin has only made tepid steps into digital. what we have seen as a partnership with an american startup called ever note which is for note taking online and beyond that there hasn't been much. of course moleskin stock and trade is that iconic coded cardboard bound note back and what equivalent of that it can find in a digital realm isn't really clear and so far it's clear from their prospectus that that's not driving the company's

growth. it's entirely new markets where they are able to sell the same notebooks that they've been selling for quite some time now. >> great to see you, zach. senior editor at quartz. moleskin shares are trading at this point up 0.8 of 1% and if you compare that with how some of the its predecessors did, they were up quite a bit more in the first day. we'll see if they can continue to follow the strong performance in the months to follow. a bit of corporate news to also bring you up to speed. the view is out for barclays. it's a big report. 224 pages. it's effectively finding that to rebuild trust barclays must make changes to mandatory code of conduct. are you learning anything from this yet? >> not really. >> do you expect to?

>> i don't expect to either. i think we'll just have to wait and see how it goes on for a while. >> what would be a real game changer from an investors point of view when it comes to barclays or bank debt generally? >> i think we're going to have to wait and see how this current cycle in the market pans out. right now it's quite clear the markets are balancing a difficult situation. technicals are fragile. until we see if bank tech continues to tighten, i don't think we can take this one any further. >> okay. we'll leave it there. we'll bring more news from that report if we get it as we get it. and shares lower this morning after verizon denied it's considering a joint takeover with at&t of the u.k. group. the saga continues. the statement from verizon followed a report in the financial times suggesting they would take vodafone's stake.

and novartis auction expected to value it over $5 billion. >> i hope i'm going to do a better job in terms of pronunciation. i'm not completely sure. i think it's ache. more than $5 billion would be a lo lofty valuation because that would be 50 times. that looks to be pricey. other bidders include pfizer and abbott laboratories and the report in reuters suggest that gsk dropped out after the first round. the second round of the auction will take place in the second half of april and that could produce a clear front runner. let's talk about the rationale for this deal, which is actually pretty straightforward.

brazil is one of the fastest growing economies and the health care market is fast growing too. ache is actually the fourth biggest brazilian drug company by sales. it's a leader in prescription medicine and it's very active in the otc business. last year it had revenues of $1.5 billion. there's one element which could end the deal which is one of the families that has an ownership in the company hasn't decided if they want to sell their interest. >> richard branson's virgin atlantic airline is in talks giving virgin more exposure to asian, middle east and other markets. he would have to give up some of the company's independence. it could put virgin atlantic back on the path to profitability. we know that's important as

well. former french budget minister has come under investigation for money laundering and tax evasion after admitting he held an undisclosed swiss bank account and this could deliver a blow to the government which is promising to rein in tax evasion. now suddenly the government in europe is facing major questions and can you explain just what is going on. >> it is raising three problems. the legal issue of having a secret bank account to avoid paying taxes is against the law and therefore he will face trial like any other citizen in france so that's the first issue linked to that story. second one is a moral issue because as a budget minister he was also in charge of tracking tax evasion in france and as such he should have been beyond

reproach. whiter than white. in a statement yesterday the president said that he has committed a moral mistake. the third problem is a moral issue because on this account which is not in singapore he has euros coming from his former consulting activity and was consulting for pharmaceutical companies at a time or right after he was working with the health minister and therefore could be a conflict of interest between private and public activities. legal, moral corruption. these are the three problems. the three major stories that he is facing today. >> i'm confused about something. the markets get very troubled when they see political uncertainty in italy. they get very troubled when they see little events unfolding in the u.s. why in france does this get totally ignored by the financial markets? >> because it doesn't call into

question the presidency because he's been elected until 2017 to this problem is not going to change the french president. the question in france is about the economy policy and how strict he's going to be. you have seen that recently that he adjusted his economic policy to be more adapted to the economic situation. now the problem with french politics is in 2017 for the next presidential elections because with this problem linked and the recent problem with nicould hav vultures choose extreme political parties and that's a danger for democracy but that's not before 2017. >> thanks very much for explaining all that. turning now to japan. his fight against deflation has officially begun but will the

new bank of japan president deliver at his first policy meeting? we go live to tokyo for more. >> good to see you. tokyo stocks bounced back with nikkei gaining nearly 3%. market was underpinned by continued hopes of aggressive monetary easing by the boj as the new governor chairs his first policy board meeting. one of the bold measures expected to be discussed at the two-day meeting is expanded purchases of government bonds up to five and ten years until maturity. the dboj purchases are now limited. he made it clear that he intends to combine boj purchasing facilities to make monetary easing stance easier to understand. purchases by the two different vehicles has been criticized as being confusing. total purchase amounts are also expected to be increased from the current $41 billion to $53

billion. expectations are high that he will be able to convince the nine-member board to adopt these measures, caution remains. because some board members are thought to be concerned that a stronger commitment to buying more jgbs is a sign of deficit financing may take longer than expected to reach consensus. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much for that. interesting to see if you just have a quick comment here the japanese market responding up 3% when it sounds like a lot of this should have been expected. >> i think the good news here is they are talking about it now rather than than 2014. that had been the plan. the key question in my mind is the money which is effectively available as a result of this former qe, how is it going to be deployed? is it going to be deployed to avoid structural reform as is the case in the u.k., i don't see that being stimulative. if it is to apply for infrastructure projects, that could be interesting indeed. >> you're not bullish on

structural reform. you want the helicopter basically? >> i want to see fiscal stimulus to produce production possibilities outwards. >> production possibility? this is why we love having you on the program. what you want to see is to change product capacity of japan. >> if it's a real stimulus at least a stronger gdp growth and it's clear that it kicks off the economy then that's great. if it's just a mechanism whereby the government used it to avoid saving money, that's a different story. >> will infrastructure do that at this point? the question is where will it be targeted to have a meaningful impact on the economy. >> we'll leave it at that. let's look at the ajegenda in aa tomorrow. investors banking on bank easing and q-1 numbers from htc and

decision from australian retailer billabong on competing takeover offers. coming around in half an hour's time, we'll talk toed adair turner. don't go anywhere.

welcome back to the program. the u.k. watchdog financial services authority has closed its doors and yesterday was replaced by two new separate regulators. under the new twin peaks system, the prudential regulation authority run by the bank of england will oversee supervision. the financial conduct authority will be a separate independent agency acting as the city's behavioral watchdog. it will have responsibility for more than 25,000 firms like brokers, advisers and money managers. is this a real improvement on the old system? lord adair turner is the former chairman now taking a role in a think tank called the institute for new economic thinking and will be based in new york. he joins us now for an exclusive interview. lord turner, it's great to see you. if you don't mind, would love your thoughts as to whether this

new twin peaks system can really help fend off the next financial crisis. >> well, i think the twin peaks system is a better system. i've been a strong supporter of it for the last four years and indeed during that time at the fsa we've been building the institutions which are now launched as the prudential regulatory authority and the financial conduct authority. and i think as i've said before that having a group of people who are focused on prudential regulation when the rest of the world thinks that the prudential risks have disappeared and vice versa with conduct regulation is the right way to go and i also believed for many years that it is right to have prudential regulation of banks in particular close to the central bank. so i don't really want to go into much more detail on that. i think it's not right for a former chairman to get too much

into the commentary. the limelight ought to be taken by the new leaders of the new institutions but, yes, i am a supporter and i believe it will be a better system for the future. >> i just wonder in your role now, you can now -- you are thinking new economic thoughts. what are these new economic thoughts? when we talk about, for example, britain. is there not a tension between efforts to try to boost growth and danger that we're repeating the experiment over again an expecting different results when it comes to releveraging and issues still plaguing consumers and the financial services still remains important to britain's longer term growth prospects. >> well, i think those are important issues to britain. i'm actually talking to you here from hong kong. i hope to be spending a lot of my time over the next year thinking about issues which get me a little bit away from britain. but i think the real big issue that comes out of the crisis of

2007-'08 is that for 20 or 30 years before that crisis we allowed leverage in the economy, the level of debt in the economy, in many economies in america, in britain, in many parts of europe and japan across the world to get to too high levels, private sector debt initially and we failed to realize that that would have major consequences indeed the economic theories of the time tended to say whatever the financial sector does, whatever products it produces, whatever level of leverage results, that must be for the good. i think we know that isn't right now. interestingly we talk about new economic thinking. some of the best insights on this issue of leverage and excess death was written by mid 20th century scientists who looked at the wreckage produced by excess leverage in the 1920s. these are some of the issue that i want to have the opportunity

to stepping back from day-to-day business of financial regulation and think about more fundamental issues. >> alan? >> do you think the british economy is too heavily focused upon financial services and also upon revenues from oil and gas extraction as well and that it needs to be diversified substantially more in order to make it more stable over time? >> i think almost everybody believes that a rebalance is required. several dimensions of that rebalance from domestic consumption through to exports, a rebalance relatively from overreliance on financial services to manufacturing and george osbourne talked about the need for a march of manufacturers. i think it's important to say that whatever happens in that rebalancing, the u.k., the city of london, will still remain a very important provider of wholesale financial services for the world and we must not

underrate the importance of that. relatively, yes. we now realize that the u.k. economy in the years before the crisis had got two reliant on financial services in particular. a one-club golfer. we do need a bit more of a diversified set of strengths in the future. i think what we realize in the u.k. economy is how difficult it is to get that rebalance. one of the disappointing things over the last four years is how little export performance has responded for instance to the significant depreciation of sterling which happened in early 2009 has been sustained since then but broadly speaking i do believe and i do think the government believes as well the u.k. government believes that rebalance is required. >> lord turner, at the same time people point to the weak performance of exports a fact that they haven't responded more to that currency depreciation because so much of the exports were financial services and if

that's in decline especially if it's being forced into decline it's no surprise there isn't a better response here. as you say you're in hong kong. isn't the real danger that a lot of this activity shifts to places like hong kong where it does much more for their economies than it does for economies, britain or europe or otherwise needed in this part of the world. >> i think it's highly likely that there will be one or two but at least one major wholesale financial services sector in each major time zone across the world. within the u.k.'s europe's time zone, london is completely dominant at the moment and i think it can continue to play a very major role in the provision of wholesale financial services. so i don't think -- i think it will be an unfortunate result if we saw a wholesale movement of those wholesale financial services out of london. i think one can say that while

still accepting that the u.k. economy before the crisis became overdependent on financial services and you are quite right that one of the factors which has pulled back u.k. export performance over the last four years has been the relatively poor performance of financial services exports. >> a problem for britain and the developed world. thank you so much for your time, sir. senior fellow at the new institute of economic thinking. former chair of the u.k. fsa. great to see you on the show, alan. appreciate it. straight ahead, we'll countdown friday's jobs report. investors will get a check on private sector payrolls ahead of the opening bell today.

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm kelly evans and these are your headlines. european stocks trading lower as investors await tomorrow's monetary policy decisions in europe and japan. vodafone lower after verizon denies speculation on a deal. the ceo of moleskin tells us he's confidence about the future of italian's business despite the country's political stalemate and pyongyang's latest provation bars south koreans

from entering a joint industrial zone. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. now, at the top of the hour let's check in on u.s. future as we turn our attention toward the trading session in the u.s. this is a day where fair value matters because it changes the picture here and points to an incredibly strong open. 14,601 is where the dow is looking. nasdaq and s&p 500 a bit higher by several points. look at these as well. s&p 500 looking to add about three. we'll keep an eye on these as the morning develops. in terms of what's happening across europe, we're learning that cpi figures are coming in south ahead of the european central bank's important policy meeting tomorrow. ftse global 500 is lower on the day. it's a day where nikkei added 3% and has done a lot to support global sentiment. european opened in the red and red arrows with ftse in italy

down two-thirds of a percent and half a percent lower. ftse 100 also weaker despite starting the quarter with a reasonab reasonably strong tone. spain has been one of the relatively outperformers and 4.9% is now the yield on its ten year. italy doing reasonably well also down below 4.6% despite that the country is struggling to form a government and movement out of u.k. paper today. and nikkei is slightly lower reflecting the shift in policy to a more accommodative european central bank and less so u.s. fed. australian/dollar adding a quarter of 1%. the dollar/yen shows the yen weakening about a tenth of 1%.

we saw nikkei respond strongly. let's get out to singapore. good to see you again. >> good to see you. a huge rally in japan overshadowed losses in both asian markets today and nikkei as you just mentioned surged 3% at the bank of japan met for the first policy meeting. investors expect big bold easing moves at tomorrow's policy decision. automakers were fueled by rising u.s. car sales and look at the 14% gain for fast retailing shares. another reason behind the nikkei surge. and in china the shanghai composite eased a bit ahead of a two-day holiday starting tomorrow. and analysts say the economic outlook remains cloudy while

beijing's reform measures lack clarity. some drug makers buck the trend benefiting from the scare as more cases of a new bird flu string are reported. weakness in oil majors and banks put pressure on the hang seng but defensive sectors capped losses there. elsewhere south korea's kospi lost ground amid escalating tensions with the north and australia miners dragged the market lower. and sensex is lower by half a percent. back to you. >> thank you for that. i mentioned data coming out of the eurozone here. this is so interesting. euro europe remains as this 2% target. it's interesting to see this headline cpi data continue to soften. increase of 1.7% on the year for

march. that was versus february's 1.8%. it's the lowest year end reading since august 2010 and again it's well below where that 2% range would indicate. usually that would be an okay sign, a sign of price stability but the question is more about trajectory and to what extent we see more price deflation set in across the eurozone with the possible exception of germany. an important exception nevertheless. the euro/dollar is stronger by a tenth of 1%. you can see it jumping up there. not the reaction you might expect if they were pricing in perhaps the european central bank reacting with more accommodation. even as we digest the figures, a bit of news out of cyprus. imf reached an agreement to contribute 1 billion euros to the country's bailout or bail in depending on your point of view. they expect an agreement to have approval by the board in early may. all of this according to dow

jones news wires. here's a look at what's on the agenda today in the u.s. the march adp employment report out at 8:15 a.m. eastern. it's looking for an increase of 194,000 private sector jobs. roughly in line with what we saw in february which did proceed a strong employment report and has had hopes raised for a strong one again on friday. at 10:00, it's the marsh ism services index. economists looking for a reading of 55.8 which is a slight downtick from february and at 3:30 san francisco fed president john williams speaks about monetary policy. look for results from conagra and an interview with dan tarullo. that will be on "squawk box" at 8:30 a.m. eastern. for more on how markets are shaping up today, joining us now is chief economist and cio. it's great to see you. it was your note earlier this

week that really helped to focus attention on what was happening in japan because you were saying at the time we were seeing the nikkei starting to break down and yen start to strengthen so do you view the 3% jump we've seen in the market today as just a one off and is in fact the trend not in japan's favor right now? >> i think the boj meeting in progress has a lot to deliver in terms of the tenor, the quality of what they are buying in terms of the rhetoric. i think the bank of japan quantitative easing has been the quarter left for implementation. in terms of the stock market, i mean, the japanese stock market like anything else is a reflection of a lack of alternatives. >> at this point are you turning cautious on the nikkei?

>> no. i think relatively speaking i like nikkei better than i like a lot of the european markets but overall i think you need to be extremely cautious on equity right now. >> so what do you recommend in terms of trades? >> i think if you look at the biggest quality in terms of access buying and what you engage in is actually in bank sell-offs. you have a huge demand in regulatory capital which means that banks are selling balance sheet items to the credit funds, to the credit market and i think that's really where the return is in terms of good opportunity. in terms of the actual physical equity markets, i think you need to look at global trends. you need to look at energy prices coming down because of the u.s. natural gas prices and that means you should be buying companies that have a huge

proponent of electricity use. if growth comes back, this becomes an attractive long-term play. >> cyprus had taken so much of the market's mind share and we continue to get detail out of the joint statement that cyprus will have to raise corporate tax from 10% to 12.5%. interest income from 15% to 30%. social welfare system will be reviewed likely changed. there will be an extra 4.5% of gdp in measures needed in order to reach a 4% primary surplus by 2018. a quick comment here? >> i think it's very unlikely. you should all be very cautious of condemning a country but cyprus will have an extreme difficulty in reaching any of those targets especially because 60% to 70% of the whole economy

is a service industry and not just banking but fund management business, foreign exchange business, they all need to come down to european levels and that's going to be extremely difficult. very, very difficult for cyprus. >> another difficult issue this morning, tensions in north and south korea show no sign of abating after pyongyang blocked south korean workers from entering a shared industrial zone on wednesday. the complex which generates $2 billion a year in trade for the north houses 123 companies and employs citizens from both sides of the border. the aggressive moves comes a day after north korea announced it would restart its nuclear reactor. >> reporter: it wasn't just more threats this time, north korea took an action violating an agreement. north korea doesn't operate like other states. it's run according to a strict ideology that now sees nuclear weapons as directly linked to its survival.

kim jong-un today undid years of policy. north korea closed the plant in 2 2007 destroying the tower. >> if they restart the nuclear facility at yongbyon, it's in violation of their international obligations. >> reporter: kim jong-un shows no sign he's listening to the outside world. north korea is making it clear they have no intention of giving up nuclear weapons. it wants to develop them. the question being asked here is how do you deter a nation that believes because of its nuclear arsenal it doesn't need to compromise. it would be a mistake to dismiss kim as a mere boy emperor

stomping his feet. his country has been described as a giant cult worshipping three generations of a single family for american six decades. kim jong-un, his father and his father. the ruling philosophy, military first, undefeatable military is essential. rivals bent on its destruction must be opposed. >> people say north korea is unpredictable. it's very predictable. it's very power driven, exploit weaknesses, intolerant, uncompromising type of view. >> reporter: north korea lives on this philosophy and not much else. it is desperately poor, famine ravages the countryside. the capital is a modern looking city of more than 3 million but look closer. the streets have hardly any cars. and yet north korea maintains the world's fourth largest

military. the north korean regime's legitimacy is based on the god-like worship of leaders and some wonder if kim jong-un knows where the myth stop and reality begins. >> having listened to that and seeing some of the nervous reaction of course worldwide, we're still seeing a muted reaction in markets with kospi down a little more than a tenth of 1%. what are investors to make of this? >> you have seen outflow from the kospi related to equities but overall the kospi has done exactly the same as japan has done. i think people are calling to bluff here. south korea just had a new president. a lot os is seen as a test of the new precedent in place in south korea is also a test of china's commitment to north korea. it is at the end of the day it's a one-way street where

ultimately north korea needs to back down and i think that's the way the market has reacted today. it's muted but with a slight increase in risk in terms of the geopolitical event. >> if that doesn't happen, we can see which way markets might head. thank you for your time. now, it's official. goldman sachs has inaugurated the second stage of its wall street reforms after dodd-frank and the volcker rule. we'll break down the nitty-gritty details and explain what it means for wall street on our website, cnbc.com. keep in mind you can follow us on twitter. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds

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welcome back to "worldwide exchange." verizon denies speculation of a takeover deal with vodafone. moleskin makes a tepid market debut in milan. shares of the classic italian notebook maker hovering around the 2.30 euro issue price and china weighs in on tensions on the korean peninsula as north korea prevents the south from entering a joint industrial zone. here's a look at today's other top stories. tesla motors wants to make its

cars more affordable. they are launching a leasing program which starts at $64,000 after federal tax credit. the company ceo says it will be possible to own one for $500 a month after three years you can sell it back to tesla or pay off the rest of the car. wells fargo and u.s. bank agreed to provide 10% down financing but there's a catch. only six u.s. states offer electric vehicle credits and you have to use the model s for work so you can deduct depreciation and expenses. it's a reasonably good deal if you can check all of those boxes. tesla shares are responding higher by 0.4 of 1% today. a report that barclays commission back in july of last year into the bank's standards and practices was published today and it proposes the u.k. lender limit long-term awards to

top executives. the report suggests that in absence of a common sense of values led to problems at barclays. barclays says the review makes uncomfortable readings in parts. long readings as well. and australia is looking to sell a third of its coal unit in a bid to reduce costs. deutsche bank has been appointed to handle of sale. it wants to cut stake as low as 51% according to "the wall street journal." a spokesman for rio declined to comment. companies can use facebook and twitter to announce news to investors. the long awaited move comes with one condition. they must tell investors ahead of time which sites they'll use. this is part of the s.e.c.'s effort to clarify rules after the agency opened a probe last summer into a facebook post by netflix ceo. it announced netflix online

views topped $1 billion hours but they never released that. as an investor, do you feel comfortable with social media for announcements? you can also tweet us @cnbcwex. welcome to the new new york state. what's the "new" in the new new york? a new property tax cap... and the lowest middle class income tax rate in 60 years... and a billion dollars in tax breaks and incentives. new opportunities for business. over 250,000 new private sector jobs were created over the last two years. and 17 straight months of job growth. with the most private sector jobs ever. lower taxes, new incentives, new jobs, now that's news.

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and without a line. now that's a fast car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. welcome back to the program. let's take a quick look at u.s. futures which were trading higher. dow looking to add about 18 points at the open. the s&p 500, nasdaq, small gains you're seeing as well. it has been a series of retesting and testing new market highs. we'll keep an eye on the s&p 500 in particular for that. the tone across europe has been broadly negative this morning. it's roughly split between decliners and advancers but we are seeing the ftse down by 0.4 of 1%. italy has been underperforming down 0.6. in light of political scandals out of paris today which are

certainly a black eye for the government but don't necessarily point to any government instability. nevertheless, we're also getting news out of cyprus and it is with regard to what the imf and european commission have agreed to if cyprus. they are talking about the need for the country to raise income tax and corporate tax rates but say so doing will also unlock about a billion dollars in aid toward that $10 billion bailout or bail in if you will of the country. the back of that news appeared to send the euro higher because it wouldn't have been cpi data out of europe showing an increase of 1.7% on the year. now verizon is denying reports it plans to merge or buy wireless partner vodafone alone or in a joint bid. there was a report that verizon and at&t were working on a bid. verizon said it would like to buy the stake in verizon wireless but the companies haven't been able to strike a deal.

look at shares there. vodafone down better than 2% in london. verizon on frankfurt market down 0.2 of 1%. swiss drug make er novartiss looking to bid. it's been a week in which emerging markets are playing big for novartis. how badly do you think novartis wants this brazilian company? >> it would make sense, wouldn't it? brazil is one of the fastest growing ining emerging economie. ache is the fourth biggest brazilian drug company by sales. leader in prescription medicine and also very active in the rapidly growing otc market. ache is a company which had 1.5 billion in sales last year and it has around 3,000 employees. it's a pretty big sized firm and

the deal would also be fairly highly priced. you mentioned the number more than $5 billion is what the price tag could be looking like and that would suggest a multiple of between 15 and 20 times and that looks to be on the high side according to some analysts. the other bidders in this include pfizer and abbott labratories. there is uncertainty as to whether this deal would go through. that's because one of the families which has a controlling stake in the company is still not sure whether it actually wants to sell. kelly? >> okay. thank you very much. i lik fact that the pharmaceutical company in english looks like it is aimed ache labratories. that's my weird sense of humor. thank you very much. one more small story to catch you up on. virgin airlines is in talks

giving them more exposure and it would signal a change to branson's business model as we could have to give up some of the company's independence. it would put virgin atlantic back on path to profitability and that's important as well. straight ahead on the program, a 40th anniversary of the first mobile phone call. we'll discuss the future of the cell phone. does it have a future? which brands are likely to dominate and which are likely to become obsolete when we come back.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm kelly evans. european markets are weaker this morning. imf agrees to contribute around a billion euros to the cyprus bailout but it comes with conditions including tax hikes and changes to the welfare system. weakness across europe as investors await tomorrow's monetary policy decisions in europe and japan. moleskin makes a tepid market debut in milan. but the ceo of the classic notebook maker tells the show he's confident despite the political stalemate and china tries to dial down tensions on the korean peninsula as south koreans are barred from entering a joint industrial zone.

>> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange" bringing you business news from around the globe. quick check of the u.s. futures. a decimal point is off here because we're looking for a higher open on markets. in the range of about 10 points or so for the dow. 20 points or so i should say at the nasdaq and s&p 500 are pointed toward small gains as well. european markets started off broadly weak today and that has pretty much been the story. overnight the nikkei adding 3% did help to boost the cnbc footsfoot ftse 300. weakness in the italian market where there's been the ipo of moleskin. the much anticipated debut. that company shares are just barely higher trading almost bang on that ipo price. so how do you make money in

these markets? here's what some guests have been telling us all morning. >> should you be bullish on markets i think selectively you can be. i'm still extremely positive in the u.s. where i have a problem has been bullish on global markets. i think there are so many areas of concern and so many things that could go wrong. japan is one of those examples. >> we've come off 13% in a few days. it's the biggest decline we've had since 1956 i think if we go back because the limits weren't so expanded. i think around the $6 mark there will be a lot of interest. i don't think we'll get to $5. that's what we'll be looking for and that would be a good buy. >> i think it's a great story. it's a value story.

you have business capital at 700 million. 400 million of cash in the bank. planes worth 800 million and nothing for slots at heathrow which are very valuable. >> now, there's a lot happening in the smartphone world today. some anniversaries to celebrate and preorders start in the u.s. tomorrow for the htc1. smartphone wars are under way around the globe with android models leading the market and apple iphones are a distant second and apple begins to plan production for a summer launch of the next iphone model. blackberry just released z10 battling it out with windows phone for third place. motorola's martin cooper rang a competitor in new york. here's a look at the iconic mobile phones of the last 40 years. i wonder how many of them have you owned?

shouldn't the motorola razr be up there too? what kind of smartphone do you have? >> i have to admit i use an iphone. >> i use a blackberry. >> i a lot of people still do. one of the benefits that apple has is once people are with them for quite a while, they are very invested in the ecosystem. >> it's about the software for the devices. >> it's apps and games and people are spending so much money on that that moving from an iphone to android means buying apps again. >> how important has itunes been for apple's success? >> enormously. itunes is critical for pushing apple's hardware because it's been tightly integrated with the services that it offers but now it has competition.

>> it's completely disrupted that model. >> and spotify is key in raising the money that music industry takes to offset decline in cd sales over the last ten years. >> what's interesting about this discussion now is even as rumors about apple have been coming out with regard to iphone 5, it says the public's attention has moved on. you have to give samsungs of the world credit to how they caught up and surpassed apple. >> samsung has done extremely well in marketing its galaxy range but it's using android operating system which google makes and you can get that on many other devices. and it's very interesting that samsung has a huge dominance using a product that is arguably made by somebody else. >> we know samsung is trying to develop its own software and that it will use on its next

generation handsets. >> we have seen different forks of android if you look at amazon kindle fire. it's android underneath. >> the number of products that are out there right now and actually frankly the similarities of a lot of these handsets differences are on the margin and make a difference for those that if i'm trying to market my new handset, i go through tube stations and i see massive advertising campaigns likes of which i have never seen and i wonder if it will pay off or too much of an uphill battle. >> samsung has a foot hold in the markets. htc may have to take a different tact. we heard rumors of a tie-up with facebook coming up later this week. it's a great product. it's very good. physically quite different from

samsung but really the main differentiator has to come down to the software and beneath that you are looking at the same operating system. >> what does apple have to recapture for the hearts of the investing public? >> what apple did in 2007 changed how people thought a phone should be. apple needs to change when they think a phone is for a second time. >> is it a watch? >> it will be integrated with a watch, i believe. it will be an extension. a second screen to a phone. i think that we'll see big changes on the hardware side and certainly on the software side. the software is under different leadership than it's been for all of the previous generations of the iphone. it will be interesting to see what changes in the next version. >> whomever manages to come out with the game changing product will capture rewards from it. remains an open question. thanks for stopping by. while we take break, head

over to cnbc.com. you can read about what there is to say about the latest crisis in cyprus warning there are more twists ahead and the current deal is just a short-term solution. check out that full story online. also, contrarian investor says what happened in cyprus could happen anywhere and growing wealth and inequality means wealthy have nowhere to hide. you can check us out online. and coming up, the s.e.c. makes a major decision regarding how companies can report news on social media. you can read about that online. maybe on facebook. on twitter and keep an eye on the hash tag. stay tuned.

welcome back to the show. a couple top stories. china's increasingly important service sector does continue to expand. nonmanufacturing pmi rose to a six month high suggesting the broad based services recovery is gaining traction. different story in india. pmi for that country sunk to a six-month low. new business has taken a hit in india as orders from overseas slow and the service sector is critical to the country as it

does make up about 60% of india's output. also, jcpenney ceo ron johnson isn't getting a bonus or stock awards for 2012 after a dismal year for the department store chain. he unveiled a plan last year to revamp the retailer including getting rid of most discounts in favor of every day low prices. that backfired leading to a 25% drop in sales and in an s.e.c. filing jcpenney's say johnson's pay package included commuting on a private jet. take a look at reaction -- we'll keep an eye on the reaction today. obama administration pushing u.s. banks to make more home loans to people with weaker credit. sounds like stories of the past. "the washington post" reports the president's economic advisers say the housing market is leaving too many behind as it rebounds especially young people looking to buy their first home and those whose credit reports

were hurt by the recession. housing officials are urging they won't face penalties to people who later default. it opens the door to risky lending that led to the housing crisis in the first place. the same is happening here in britain. bp put its wind power business up for sale. the unit is worth $1.5 billion is a retreat from alternative energy to focus on core oil and gas operations. wind power is one of the largest renewable businesses and bp is among the largest u.s. wind generators. shares are just fractionally higher in london today. that's outperforming the market. hash tag earnings. s.e.c. making a big decision regarding company news and social media. bertha coombs at cnbc global headquarters with more on the s.e.c.'s decision. bertha, i wonder if we shouldn't be tweeting this discussion. >> i did tweet i would be talking about it all fair

disclosure. there are a lot of ceos who tweet. musk tweeted he would make that big announcement about tesla's leasing program and marissa mayer tweeting ahead of the s.e.c. decision. folks have been waiting for them to act on this because it's something that everyone does. s.e.c. will allow companies to use facebook, twitter and other social media to announce key news such as earnings or other material information. the new rule comes with one condition. companies must alert investors ahead of time about which sites they plan to use. so they're going to tell you where you have to sign up and follow them. current regulation rules requires that material information be disclosed at the same time to all investors. the decision stems from a probe last year into a facebook post by netflix ceo reed hastings on his personal facebook page he announced netflix's online views

topped the 1 billion mark but they didn't disclose the information in a filing. hastings claim the news wasn't material but s.e.c. said it was and netflix shares jumped in the day after his announcement. the agency said they didn't take action against hastings or allege wrongdoing. the federal trade commission upgraded guidance issued back in prefacebook and twitter days to deal with dotcom. consumer protection laws apply across all media whether ads are delivered across traditional print or broadcast media, on approximapcs or mobile devices. you have 140 characters on twitter and in some cases you can put a link that will take you right to some possible relevant disclosures. the one click away rule. they won't allow that when it

comes to drugs. the drug advertising usually has to have all of those disclosures of side effects and things like that. hard to do that in a twitter tweet and certainly one click for some people might not be enough. the fda hasn't weighed in on that but ftc saying they don't think it applies to drugs. >> you could link to the facebook page where there is more information. thanks very much for that. interesting to some extent keeping up with communication but at the same time if you have to follow what every employee or every person who might make a material disclosure and what's material and what's not, is it what a ceo says? is it other members of the board and executive committee, et cetera? we asked do you feel comfortable with social media for corporate announcements? >> i stand amazed that the s.e.c. would do something this stupid. some people have lives that revolves around posting every action on the web for the world

to see. random thoughts along with the rare ones that itmight be marke moving. let's take a look at what we're hearing out of south africa with regards to the health of nelson mandela. doctors are happy with his progress and that he's much better than when he was admitted. he's in his mid 90s and people have been watching his health closely. >> these are your headlines. imf puts a billion euros in the cyprus bailout pot but comes with a shake-up to the country's welfare system. moleskin makes the market debut in milan but shares of the classic italian notebook maker around that 2.30 euro issue price. the north blocks south koreans from entering a joint industrial zone. and coming up next, we'll get an outlook for the amber waves of grain straight from the

commodity trading pits in chicago. we'll be right back.

welcome back to the program. here's a look at european markets which are trading broadly lower this morning. ftse 100 down one-half of 1%. spain is shedding 0.4 of 1%. same for italy. on the italian notebook maker moleskin debuted on the italian market today but a muted start to trade. shares are trading just above ipo price of 2.30 euros a share. you can barely see they're higher if you look at the price there. i can tell you they are up by

just under 0.2 of 1% and frankly they have been sitting at just about this 2.30 price today suggesting that there's just not a lot of action pushing these shares higher this morning. earlier i did ask the company ceo why he took the company public in italy at a time of such political uncertainty. >> there are several ways to pronounce moleskin. there's the english way moleskin or french way moleskin. there are many ways and we're fine with all of them. >> that reflects your attitude with the company. it's supposed to be something for everyone here. >> yes. absolutely. moleskin is an inclusive brand based on a set of cultural values that have to do with expressing its own side so it's inclusive and not exclusive. >> it's an extraordinarily successful marketing effort because you are still selling

notebooks in this increasingly digital age. interesting to see the success that you've had and what do you think it is? in spite of what's happening in terms of the digital revel luol or because people want and need that physical paper. >> it's a combination of both. we're seeing definitely with the growth of the digital economy people need more and more to be reassured of the fact that we are still human beings and foreign objects offers meaning and moleskin is one of those of being connected with great artists of the past and people are interested in objects with this value. >> you are about a 15-year-old company at this point and owned by private equity for the last six or seven years, when it comes to market you still do most of your sales in europe.

why go public in italy in particular with the political uncertainty that we're seeing right now and what a tough market environment it's been. >> well, moleskin is a global business at this point. italy is only 10% of our sales. and europe is the majority of our market but the u.s. and america in general is up more than 35% and asia 11% so as a global business that has experienced very strong growth in the last three or four years and has significant opportunity for growth, we thought, and the evidence from the ipo confirms that there is an interest from investors in this kind of growth stories that have a global connotation. >> you can see moleskin there now just about flat on that offer price of 2.30 euros a share. a different story than what we

saw for other companies when they went public that have done well since. we'll see what happens with that. look at u.s. futures pointed a little bit higher this morning. in terms of the agenda today, watch for that adp employment report out at 8:15 a.m. eastern on private sector payrolls. at 10:00, ism services index and we also get earnings from conagra foods and monsanto. and wheat prices up for a second straight day today. some say short covering but also expectations of strong demand after prices slipped to a nine-month low earlier this week and corn is down to its lowest level since last june. it was pressured by the report showing bigger u.s. stockpiles. what does it mean? we'll talk to president of standard grain and we're talking about multimonth lows here. is this a supply or demand story? >> at this point in time it's kind of both. you know, we had very, very high prices in the corn market and in

the wheat market in particular for months and months on end. six or seven months since the drought hit last summer. i think that due to the extended period of time we saw these high prices we really have seen demand slip. another part of this equation that we don't quite know for sure yet is where the usda found these extra bushels of grain. it could be from a number of different sources. it could be that they underestimated the 2012 crop which is a possibility. it could be from domestic usage such as feed or ethanol and it could be from export demand we'll find that out on the usda's next report on april 10th. >> to the extent that it provides relief for consumers, what the expectation at this point? >> the expectation at this point is going to shift very quickly into this spring and the coming growing season here in the u.s. we're very quickly going to turn into a weather market once the

traders have digested this report from last week, which may ma take another day or two. things will hinge on what kind of production is possible in the u.s. this summer. we are coming off a record soybean crop in south america. 10% bigger than the previous record crop. looking at a record corn crop there. things around the world are improving. we hope to see that same thing in the u.s. this year. >> it's a fascinating story. you have to wonder if it fits more broadly with what we see across commodity market coming off record multiyear highs. we have to leave it there. interesting one to watch. also we'll have to listen today for what the agricultural earnings giants say when they talk to investors. all of that still ahead. that does it for us on the program. i'm kelly evans. thank you for tuning in. time for u.s. "squawk box." we hope you join us back here tomorrow morning on "worldwide exchange." have a great day.

good morning. working for a living. march adp report tops today's economic agenda. that's a big one and ceos are now cleared to tweet. what a world. the s.e.c. says companies may announce key data on social media as long as we know where they're going to do and behind the wheel. tesla announces a new finance product that it says combines the best part of leasing and owning. hard to imagine. we'll see. it's wednesday, april 3rd, 2013. "squawk box" begins right now. ♪